Reign
by archergirl14
Summary: Erza taken from her village as a child by slavers, only to be sold to a gladiator stadium for entertainment. Jellal a prince of the Ishgar empire, saves Erza from a life in his father's harem only to place her in his own. But things aren't always as they seem when Erza finds out he's never once laid a hand on the women of his harem only saved them from his father's clutches.


_Chapter One: The Scarlet Warrior_

She could hear the cheering from the stadium as she strapped on her armor, not bothering to care that all the men were staring at her. It's not like she cared anyway, they all found out she was a woman when she'd hit puberty at the age of fourteen, after that she was isolated from the others since she was what the officials thought of as a 'prized fighter'.

At a young age she'd always excelled at fighting, as the slavers that had owned her had quickly come to find out, not that she was always a slave. She originally hailed from a small hunting village out in the mountains, but when she was six, they were raided by a band of slavers that preferred to deal in children so every adult that resided there was slain.

She'd gown up in the catacombs far from civilization along with a few other children slaves, one of the girls she celled with was often bullied by the bigger kids for their meager shares of food. When one of them saw fit to make the girl bleed, she'd seen red. The next thing she knew one of the other older kids was screaming for the guards, since the one that drew blood was the one now bleeding and unconscious on the floor.

After that for four years she was pitted against others in fights, on the last year she was instructed to kill her opponent or be killed. Luckily, she didn't know the man she was fighting since he was one of the few adults that were later brought in as her challengers. Before the match started, for the first time she was handed a weapon but so was her opponent. At this point she knew the only thing she could do was kill, or be killed herself.

When it was all over, she was bleeding everywhere, but the man lay dead at her feet. To the slaver's enjoyment, since they now had a new slave to sell to the gladiator stadium. She didn't know it at the time but they were priming her to be sold to a fighting arena, her long scarlet hair had been cut to just above her shoulders, she was then injected with something that made her feel sick. The day she was sold she was told that if she were ever discovered to be a girl, she'd be raped over and over by any man that saw her appealing.

For four years she was able to hide that she was a woman, and during that time she'd earned a name for herself 'the scarlet warrior' and many that knew if they faced her, they were as good as dead. Then her blood moon finally arrived the boy that she shared a room with thought she'd been injured in her last match when blood had coated the crotch of her clothes, she'd been quickly taken away for a medical examine which as luck would have it be performed by women.

At the discovery of her true gender she was isolated in her own room, for the stadium had earned lots of money from her fights alone, so they saw fit to keep her as a fighter but chose not to keep her gender secret from the other competitors. It's been three years since that day, and the rules have changed since her arrival. No more killing your opponent, passing out from blood lose was accepted, but mainly the goal for winning was to knock out your opponent. She had been the reason for the new set of rules, since she'd just kept killing off the competition like it was nothing.

Today seemed different somehow, the higher ups were running themselves ragged as if some important person was attending today's match. She just shook her head not caring if someone of importance would be watching, she'd just fight like she always did. With that she grabbed her custom-made sword she'd earned from winning so many fights, the same went for the armor she was wearing. It seems if you made more than you're worth, you gain new things along with more shares of food.

She quickly made her way to one of the stadium entrances for competitors, waiting for when she would be announced to enter and fight. It wasn't long before a voice came over the loud speakers. "You may know 'him' as 'The Scarlet Warrior', but we know her as Erza Scarlet." With that she effortlessly made her way into the arena and the crowd went wild, she just scoffed at them before stopping in the center legs apart and sword facing down as she rested her hands atop the hilt.

"You may know of him as 'Cerberus', but we know him as Bacchus Groh." Out came a muscular man, the only weapons he sported were black steel knuckles but he still earned himself a bit of excitement from the crowd. Many were already placing bets on who would come out the winner, but there was a halt before the match started.

"Before we start this match, we have very important guests to announce. From the royal palace joining us here today are the king and prince Jellal!" At this announcement many women in the crowd screamed out the prince's name, to his displeasure. From what Erza could make out from under his cloak, she could also tell that this sort of atmosphere wasn't what he enjoyed and this stunned her since most people liked to watched the fights.

A shiver went down her spine when she felt a leering gaze hone in on her, her eyes met the kings before his traveled her body in a disturbing way since his son was just a bit older than her. She quickly turned away to face Bacchus who gave her a half-hearted smile, seeing what had transpired between her and the king. He quickly took a fighting stance when the first bell sounded through the arena quieting the crowd.

Erza took her own fighting stance knowing that the third bell meant the start of the fight, when she heard it, she was the first to make a move rushing in swinging her sword at a diagonal for the most damage. Bacchus quickly spun out of range before delivering his own uppercut as a counter attack, Erza knowing when to back off quickly used her dexterity to deliver a blow to his jaw with her foot as she back flipped out of range. She could hear the crowd cheering her name as she lifted her sword in a defensive stance.

Bacchus wiped the blood from his jaw and smiled as he rushed after Erza, his fist coming in contact with her sword causing her whole arm to vibrate at the blow nearly numbing it. Erza knowing how to take down bigger opponents than her swiftly dropped down while quickly pivoting with her leg out to knock him off his feet. Bacchus not used to this type of attack went down like a rock, to Erza's relief she sprung back up to her feet before using the dull edge of her sword to knock Bacchus unconscious with as much force as she could so that he couldn't continue the match.

When the final bell sounded her name was being screamed out by the excited crowd, gold coins were being tossed into the arena as Bacchus was being carted off to the medical area under the stadium. Erza just waved like she was told to do after a match, and then bowed slightly to the king and his son. She was quite startled when she was quickly grabbed by each arm by a soldier, looking to the king for further orders.

The crowd quieted when the king stood whispering something to his son, whose eyes widened before flying back to Erza's. She saw his lips move fast as if trying to persuade his father in some way as he followed behind the lecherous old man, and into the arena where Erza was being confined.

"I'll be buying this one for my harem." He called out to one of the officials, who just smiled nodded and went to fetch the required papers. Erza felt cold at this proclamation, there was no way she'd survived seven years here without being violated, only for some pompous royal ass to lay claim to her now. She started to fight against the ones restraining her, until she heard a strong voice call out.

"I wish for her father, as my harem only consists of four girls." Jellal asked gripping his father's arm in a tight hold, his eyes glaring at the older man. The king gave it some thought, sure she'd be nice for him but his son was a rather picky man, it was hard to find women to fill his harem with when he kept turning them away. He nodded fast before turning away. "Buy her then."

Jellal let out a breath of relief, the only reason his harem was so small was because it consisted of girls he'd saved from his father. He never touched them, although they often asked him why not. "Release her." Jellal told the skeptical guards, it had taken all of their strength just to hold the woman in place, but they backed away none the less.

Erza opened her mouth to protest but her jaw was quickly grabbed by the prince, his lips brushing against her ear as he whispered. "It's either me or the old man, I won't touch you he on the other hand will have you your first night in the palace. Choose wisely." He swiftly let her go, but she kept quiet at the whispered threat.

Soon the official returned quite puzzled when only the prince remained, he just smiled again when Jellal held out his hands for the papers. He signed them quickly before pulling out a small dagger and cutting his thumb and pressed it to the document as proof leaving a bloody thumbprint behind. "It's done, come Erza." He swiftly grabbed her hand and pulled her along behind him.

Erza just looked at prince Jellal's back, not knowing if this was a good thing or something far worse. When they made it to the carriage, she was happy to find out it was just her and Jellal, he quickly turned around flicking the straps of her armor shocking her as the blood crusted garment fell away from her body. Her sword had long since been lost in the arena, but she felt naked without her armor on in front of this man. Jellal quickly grabbed her with both hands by the waist and hoisted her up into the carriage without much effort, once she was seated, he followed close behind shutting the door behind them and knocking on the wood three times to signal them to move.

The carriage remained silent as they traveled the roads to the palace, neither talking to the other but both thinking about their current situation. Erza not sure if she felt safe with this man, and Jellal not quite sure if he did the right thing in saving this woman who could kill at the drop of a coin.

* * *

This was another idea that came to me that I wanted to share, it might get more violent in the future depending on how I choose to progress the story.

_-archergirl14_


End file.
